RID 3132 Rotarians bring digital learning to 100 rural schools in Maharashtra

If you want to make the clubs in your district vibrant and keep the club members engaged with Rotary activities, give them a mega project to embrace. This was the objective of the leadership team of a mega transformative project in RI District 3132, where 100 clubs were involved in providing digital classrooms to 100 schools across the 11 revenue districts of ­Maharashtra that come under RID 3132.

The brainchild of DGN Jayesh Patel, the core members of this project feel that these digital classrooms are already making a big difference to the way children from underprivileged families in the rural areas of this region are learning. Tracing the genesis of the project, the DGN says that when he was the president of his club RC Solapur in 2017–18, he had done a comprehensive survey of 182 rural schools in Solapur district. A highlight of his finding was the dire shortage of teachers in the government/zilla parishad schools. His estimate is that Maharashtra’s average pupil-teacher ratio in higher secondary schools stands at 38, and is among the highest in the country. “This gap is even wider in rural regions, leaving students disadvantaged, and I felt there was a need for urgent intervention.”

During his research/survey of these schools, he also traced a particular pattern — at the higher secondary school level, one or two classes, for eg Class 5 and 6, had a much higher number of students than the other classes with the result that the former had to be split into multiple sections. But as only one teacher is assigned per class, she/he could only teach one of the several sections of that class, leaving students in the other sections high and dry and virtually helpless.

DGN Jayesh Patel had decided to make this a CSR-funded project, with his own company P P Patel & Co contributing ₹25 lakh needed to put up these units in 100 schools.

Patel badly wanted to do something to improve the education standards in the rural schools of Solapur region, and he thought that the best way to combat the shortage of qualified teachers was by leveraging digital technology and bringing digital learning to those schools facing shortage of teachers. “But I did not want only my club to do this project; our district has 101 clubs and I felt that to achieve one of Rotary’s main objectives of making our clubs vibrant, this would be an ideal project to get the maximum number of Rotarians and clubs involved in something which is going to bring about a big change in the lives and future of underprivileged children.”

His intent was to engage students of Classes 5 to 10 with engaging and curriculum-aligned e-learning content, and instead of limiting the impact to only local schools, RC Solapur partnered with all the other clubs in the district — making it a truly collaborative initiative. Each club identified one under-resourced school in its area where Rotarians would put up a DiGi Class unit, and became part of a big, transformative project.

Patel had decided to make this a CSR-funded project with his own company P P Patel & Co contributing ₹25 lakh needed to put up these units in 100 schools. He named the project Rotary ki Digital Pathshala.

Speaking to Rotary News, he said each DiGi unit comprises a 43” LED TV, which comes loaded with interactive e-learning software, with the content adhering to the state government’s curriculum (See Box for details of a DiGi classroom) from Classes 5 to 10.

“I found that in some schools there might be 200 students in one class, so that it had four or five sections, but the teacher was only one for that particular class with the result that the children hardly got his attention and proper learning did not happen. We cannot recruit teachers for zilla parishad schools, and hence I thought why not make use of digital technology to make up for this shortage of teachers, because every child deserves good education.”

Apart from the interactive learning and interesting content, there are spoken English courses, first aid learning and a smattering of Sanskrit, in addition to Marathi.

On why he waited till last year to do this project, the DGN says, “I could have done that a few years ago, but I wanted clubs in the entire district to get on board. That way more school could be covered.” The result was a mega project that has already impacted a whopping number of students. “Just imagine, this Rotary impact has been felt not only by 70,000 students but also their families, as our team has used the relationship the core committee has built with the villagers to interact with the parents and counsel them on several aspects of health, hygiene and proper nutrition too,” says Patel.

Before rolling out this project, explains RC Solapur president Sunil Maheshwari, all the clubs conducted a community needs assessment and submitted proposals from selected schools. “In a unique volunteer-driven model, RC Solapur formed a 40-­member trained volunteer team — all from the Solapur Rotary Pariwar (a group of 12 Solapur-based Rotary clubs) — to handle the installation and orientation. This hands-on approach ensured ownership, stronger community bonds, and better long-term outcomes. After the inauguration, volunteer teams travelled across the district, completing 100 installations in just 15 days; they will also serve as long-term facilitators, monitoring usage, resolving issues, and evaluating effectiveness.”

To identify the beneficiary schools, care was taken to go to areas where there was so much of poverty that “even if the parents — mostly small farmers or labourers — had to pay a little money to give the child some basic education, they would pull them out of school and make them work in the fields or elsewhere.”

The scope of what was basically a literacy project was expanded to include other areas, particularly health and hygiene. Also, the focus was on ensuring that educational content was so interesting that “children now ask the teachers when will it be time for our digital classroom! Another positive fall out is that more girls are now coming to the school; we got a call from one girl’s parents asking: Sir, what are you now providing in classrooms that our girls are now eager to go to school!”

DGN’s wife Parul, a member of RC Solapur, is actively involved in this project and says they are overwhelmed by the kind of happiness that the parents expressed.

The attraction for the students, apart from the interactive learning and interesting content, is there are spoken English — or as Patel puts is ‘semi-English’ — courses, first aid learning and a smattering of Sanskrit, in addition to English and Marathi. As this is also a region where thalassaemia is very common, students are also given awareness on this condition, and its treatment. Girls are also being counselled on prevention of cervical and breast cancer.

Around ₹35,000 is spent on each school; as the TVs were purchased in bulk, they were able to knock of ₹10,000 on the cost of each TV, and “our own committee members have been trained to install these TVs, so there is some saving of cost there too.”

The DGN’s wife Parul, who is also a member of RC Solapur, is actively involved in this project and says they are overwhelmed by the kind of happiness and gratitude that the parents expressed. She is excited about her husband’s plans to continue expanding this project in both 2025–26 and his year as district governor in 2026–27.

“In three years, if each of our district’s 100 clubs can do three schools, imagine the overall impact in the region when it comes to ­children’s education and health. During my year as DG, I want to make these schools Happy Schools, and upgrade the digital classrooms to add digital boards, each of which costs ₹60,000. We will also add five more components including handwash stations, separate toilets for girls, laboratories and libraries.”

On funding, his own corporate will continue its CSR funding for the next two years, but his reasoning is that “if my company gives CSR funds for such a transformative project, I am sure other companies will join too.”

Parul adds that in the schools which the Rotarians have upgraded with digital learning, the plan is to start Interact clubs so that the students can also acquire leadership qualities. She is excited about an additional project in these schools where the children will be taught to make compost. “We will ask the children to bring the kitchen waste from their homes to the schools, each will be provided with a 200 litre-barrel and we will train them to convert this into vermicompost. This can then be sold for organic farming at nearly ₹80–90 a kg.”

The project was inaugurated earlier this year by DG Suresh Saboo in the presence of DGE ­Sudhir Lature, and PDGs Swati Herkal, Rajiv Pradhan, Zubin Amaria, Omprakash Motipawle and Deepak Pophale, among others. Rotarians who played an active role in seeing this project through include Santosh Kanekar, Avinash Matpathi, Suhas Lahoti, Shivkumar Dalvi, Mahesh Salunke, Jitendra Jaju, Salam Sheik, Kedar Kahate, Sanjeev Menthae, Akshai Jhaveri, Atul Chauhan, Sunil Maheshwari and Rajan Vora.

The digital content includes 3D models, animation and interactive elements, making learning joyful and accessible. Initial reports from the schools indicate increased student attendance, better conceptual understanding, and enthusiastic participation. Teachers appreciate the ease of using the system, while students enjoy the interactive and visual approach to learning. RC Solapur has developed tools to monitor data on usage, attendance, academic performance, and user feedback — ensuring ongoing measurement and improvement. “This project has not only reached 100 schools, but also strengthened Rotary’s public image and relevance in rural education,” says club president Maheshwari.

Adds secretary Brijkumar Goydani, “This project is a shining example of Rotary’s power to collaborate, innovate and deliver measurable impact. It has scalable potential and we hope it can serve as a blueprint for Rotary clubs across India seeking to bridge educational inequalities through technology and partnership.”